


Bear Watching

by aosav



Series: Kageyama Friendships [11]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Explicit Language, Friendship, Gen, Minor Azumane Asahi/Nishinoya Yuu
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-31
Updated: 2017-03-31
Packaged: 2018-10-13 09:34:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10511076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aosav/pseuds/aosav
Summary: Noya and Kageyama go bird watching.





	

**Author's Note:**

> According to a cursory internet search, bear sightings are, as of last year, the highest they've been in Miyagi in a decade.

Bird watching is exactly as boring as it sounds.

Noya thought that at least the hiking part might be fun, but Kageyama seems to have an aversion to trails and has led Noya so far off the beaten path that Noya doesn’t even know where the path is anymore. He knows where every thorn bush in Sanriku Fukkoo National Park is, though, he’s pretty sure, because while Kageyama obviously has something against actual park trails he seems to harbor some bizarre affection for traipsing through patches of thorn bushes.

“Look, Noya-san, it’s a red-throated diver,” Kageyama whispers, pointing towards some bird. He lifts his binoculars for a closer look.

Noya lifts his hand to shield his eyes from the sun as he stares at the bird. It’s a bird, all right. Noya doesn’t get what the attraction is. It’s a bird. It’s not a whale or something cool like that. It’s just a bird. He glances at Kageyama, then, from the corner of his eye.

Kageyama has a small, content smile on his face as he watches the bird. His shoulders are relaxed. There’s something almost gentle about him right here, right now, under the late morning sun as he tracks the red-handed whatchamacallit with his binoculars.

Tanaka said that Kageyama likes birds – like, really likes birds, and gets all relaxed and happy when he talks about them – but Noya had no idea how fantastic it would be to actually see it for himself. It’s pretty great. Totally worth the boredom of the birds themselves, though he could still do without wading through the thorn bushes.

“You can see it better with your binoculars,” Kageyama says, looking away from the bird to glance at Noya and gesture at the binoculars hanging around Noya's neck. Kageyama brought the second pair just for Noya, and he showed Noya how to adjust them and everything. Noya hasn’t used them much, though. Unfortunately, zooming in doesn’t make birds more interesting – it just makes them bigger.

“Yeah, cool,” Noya says, flashing a grin at Kageyama. He lifts the binoculars and peers through them. He scans back and forth a bit, but he can’t even find the bird. All he sees is dirt and grass and trees and shit.

“It’s over there,” Kageyama says, pointing, as he raises his own binoculars again.

Noya follows where he pointed, over by the water. Ah. There it is – a bird.

“Oh yeah, I see it now,” Noya says. “What’s it called again?”

“A red-throated diver.”

“Right. Cool.”

The bird is not cool. The bird is a bird. It’s pretty, as birds go, but it’s just a bird.

“I like its throat. The red part.”

Kageyama nods, not taking his eyes off of the red-throated diver. Noya has only ever seen him this focused in the presence of a volleyball. It’s kind of strange – why birds, of all things? – but, hey, Noya will take what he can get.

Noya tried to get in on Tanaka’s morning runs with Kageyama, which sounded awesome and fun, but they go at, like, sunrise or something. It’s crazy early. Noya doesn’t mind mornings, likes them even, but he happens to have a social life that keeps him up pretty late most nights, either in person or over text, and he cannot do pre-dawn runs every day. He went once and it just wasn’t worth it – you can run just as far and as fast and as long at more human hours of the day, and, before that, you can _sleep_. Or do some early morning texting. Either way, time better spent.

So, instead of running, here he is, watching birds and scratching at his thorn bush-assaulted legs.

He really is an amazing senpai.

“Noya-san,” Kageyama says, suddenly. He does not sound relaxed anymore.

Noya looks over at him. Kageyama has dropped his binoculars, letting them hang by his side, and is looking off to his right, squinting in the sun.

“What is it, Kageyama?” Noya asks, following Kageyama's gaze. It takes him a minute to pick out what Kageyama is looking at. He sees trees and bushes and birds and then, not nearly far enough away, he sees it.

“That looks like a bear,” Kageyama says.

“Oh shit!” Noya hisses, staring wide-eyed at the big black bear that is ambling through the park. It doesn’t seem to be interested in them – or maybe it hasn’t seen them yet – but that can change in a second. Bear attacks are up recently – the highest they’ve been in Miyagi in a decade.

They’re gonna be mauled to death by a bear.

Shit shit shit shit _shit_.

“Run, Kageyama,” Noya whispers. He grabs Kageyama's wrist and pulls, dragging Kageyama with him as he starts backing away from the bear as quickly as he can manage while still keeping it in his sights. Kageyama comes easily, also watching the bear with wide eyes. His grip on his binoculars is so tight his knuckles have gone bloodless.

“Noya-san,” Kageyama whispers, “what –”

“Shush!” Noya hushes him, tightening his hold on Kageyama's wrist and pulling harder.

They need to get out of here right the fuck now. That is an actual fucking bear. Noya doesn’t want to die by bear attack. It’d be a pretty badass way to go, for sure, but he’s not ready to die! He has things to do! He hasn’t graduated from high school yet, or won Nationals, or married Asahi – he hasn’t accomplished anything on his bucket list!

The bear is moving. Shit shit shit. The bear is moving towards them!

“Noya-san,” Kageyama whispers, rushed and tense.

“Shh!” Noya shushes him again, continuing to stumble back, away from the bear, picking up their pace as the bear shuffles closer and closer and closer until –

Noya stumbles, tripping over a rock, and his grip on Kageyama pulls him off-balance too, which makes Kageyama stumble and throw his hand out, and, as his hand flies out in an attempt to regain his balance, Noya watches in slow motion as the binoculars slide out of Kageyama's grip and go sailing away, through the air, towards the bear.

There is a moment, as the binoculars soar up towards the sun, when Noya's heart stops beating. He would swear it under oath. His heart simply stops.

Then the binoculars fall, and the bear looks up, and it sees them – Noya knows it sees them – and it lifts its head and its beady little eyes focus in on them and –

“Fucking run!” Noya shouts.

He and Kageyama both take off at the same instant, tripping over each other as their arms tangle awkwardly between them. Noya isn’t about to let go of Kageyama's wrist, though – he’ll be damned if he’s going to let his underclassman be eaten by a bear on his watch!

Kageyama is faster than Noya is, but he’s slowing himself down by constantly twisting to look over his shoulder. Noya stares straight ahead, plowing through the thorn bushes and dragging Kageyama with him.

They run for – Noya doesn’t even know how long they run for. It’s a long time. They’re both sweating and panting and completely out of breath by the time they stop. Noya immediately pulls them both down behind a big rock. He keeps his hold on Kageyama's wrist and uses his other hand to grab Kageyama's pant leg and pull Kageyama's leg up into the shadow of the rock too. Kageyama pulls his other leg in as well, copying Noya's pose with his legs bent in front of his chest.

Noya's chest feels tight with exertion. He’s pretty sure this is what a heart attack feels like.

He breathes out slowly, deliberately, as he regains his bearings.

Hah. Bearings.

Fucking bears.

Kageyama is also steadying his breathing. His hands are shaking. When Noya turns to look at him, Kageyama meets his gaze with wide eyes.

“Well,” Noya says, lightly, “that’s definitely the biggest bird I’ve ever seen.”

Kageyama blinks at him. His brow furrows. “That wasn’t a bird, Noya-san,” he says, slowly. “That was a bear.”

Always so literal. Noya sighs and runs his hand through his hair.

“Yeah, it was,” he agrees. “It certainly was.”

“What should we do?” Kageyama asks. His shoulders are tense again.

This is not how Noya wanted this day to go. They were supposed to have a nice bonding moment while Kageyama told him facts about pigeons or eagles or something, and then they were supposed to go home and have ice cream, because Noya figured they’d both deserve it after spending the morning running around after birds.

They really deserve ice cream now.

“We need to get back to the park entrance,” Noya says. They’ll go to the ranger station and tell somebody that there’s a man-eating bear out here, and then they’ll get the bus home and go have ice cream. Maybe Noya will have Asahi meet them for ice cream. That’d be nice. Put this whole mess behind them. First, though, they need to get out of the park.

Beside him, Kageyama nods. He stares at Noya, serious and intense as always, waiting for Noya to take the lead. Because Noya is the upperclassman here. Right.

Noya lets go of Kageyama's wrist and stands up, brushing off his pants. “Right,” he says. “So we’ll just head for the ranger station.”

He offers his hand to Kageyama. Kageyama takes it and Noya pulls him to his feet, flashing a bright smile at him for encouragement. Kageyama does not look encouraged – he looks grim. Oh well.

“So,” Noya says. He looks around. He sees trees and dirt and thorn bushes and not much else – no bears, which is good, but no trail markers either, which is bad. He looks at Kageyama, who stares back at him blankly. “Which way is the trail?” Noya asks, hopefully.

“I don’t know,” Kageyama says. “I wasn’t paying attention when we ran away from the bear.”

“Yeah, me either,” Noya says. He sighs. Then he remembers his cell phone. “Aha!” he cries, pulling it out of his pocket.

“There’s no signal out here,” Kageyama says.

Noya checks. There’s no signal.

“What do you do if there’s an emergency?” he asks.

“You could bring a satellite phone,” Kageyama says. “They work out here.”

“Did you bring a satellite phone?” Noya asks, not feeling particularly optimistic about the odds.

“No,” Kageyama says. “I’ve never been in an emergency before.”

“Well, we’re in one now, that’s for sure,” Noya says. He slaps Kageyama's shoulder encouragingly. “Don’t worry, though, Kageyama,” he says, “I’ll get us out of here.”

“I know,” Kageyama says. He sounds perfectly calm. His shoulders are still tense, but only a normal – for Kageyama – amount of tense, and his hands have stopped shaking. He looks like his usual self, as if he isn’t worried at all. He doesn’t sound worried either. He’s still staring intently at Noya, but, now that Noya's really looking, he doesn’t look grim so much as focused – not quite volleyball-levels of focused, but pretty close – and not at all afraid. Actually, Noya is pretty sure that what he sees in Kageyama's steady stare is trust.

Holy shit. Kageyama trusts him.

Noya's chest puffs up a little and he can’t help the grin that pulls at his mouth. Kageyama stares at him, the trust in his eyes unwavering but joined by confusion.

Kageyama trusts him.

“So,” Noya declares, turning to gesture at the park in general, “we came into the park and headed in which direction?” He looks to Kageyama.

“North,” Kageyama supplies.

“So we wanna go south,” Noya says, nodding, “to get back to the ranger station. Which would be –” He squints up at the sun, shielding his eyes with his hand. It’s almost exactly noon, which puts the sun pretty much directly overhead and renders it not at all helpful in determining direction.

“That way,” Kageyama says, pointing. He sounds very sure.

“How do you know?” Noya asks. “The sun’s right over us, so I can’t tell which way is east or west.”

Kageyama holds up his wrist, the one with his watch on it. “The compass on my watch says it’s that way,” he says, pointing again with his other hand.

Oh. Right.

“Right,” Noya says. “Good work, Kageyama.”

Kageyama smiles, just a bit, at the compliment. Noya is _killing it_ at the whole senpai thing today. Other than the bear attack, that is, but that wasn’t his fault.

Noya reaches out and tugs on Kageyama's arm as he begins moving south. Kageyama immediately falls into step with him. Noya lets go of his arm, walking in sync with Kageyama as they head south to the ranger station.

For a few minutes, neither of them speaks. It’s really quiet, which generally isn’t something that Noya much goes for, but, in this case, it’s pretty nice.

“We definitely have to do this again some time,” Noya says.

Kageyama glances at him. “You enjoyed it?” he asks.

Boring birds and bear attacks aside, yeah, he did. Actually, not even putting those things aside, Noya enjoyed this. He could still do without the thorn bushes, but everything else ended up being awesome.

“Yeah, I did,” Noya says. He grins at Kageyama. Kageyama responds with another tiny, barely-there smile. Noya bumps up against him, playfully, making them both stumble, and laughs loudly as he staggers into a thorn bush.

All in all, bird watching is pretty cool.

And it isn’t nearly as boring as it sounds.


End file.
